


Empty Halls for Empty Hearts

by JonsaInTheNorth



Series: Return to Where You Belong [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, King's Landing, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2016-07-30
Packaged: 2018-07-28 05:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7627669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JonsaInTheNorth/pseuds/JonsaInTheNorth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They offered Jon the throne. She offered him a home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Halls for Empty Hearts

She hears the news from her servant girl, three days after the offer is extended. The girl is helping her dress for the day when she mentions the council's decision, and Sansa freezes in place. 

As the words leave the child’s mouth, Sansa shakes off her disbelief. She is out the door, clutching her skirts as she runs through the empty halls of the Red Keep. It is early in the day, too early for many to be awake and see the mess she is. Sansa heart pounds like a thousand war drums in her chest, hard and heavy and louder even than the clatter of her feet upon the stone floors.  

Sansa bursts into Jon’s study, not caring if he has company. The door slams shut behind her. She must look like a wildling woman, not fully dressed and with her braid unfurling behind her like a blood-red flag. Breathless, she speaks. “Tell me it isn’t true.”

“Sansa?” Jon looks up from the pile of ledgers and books in front of him. "What's the matter?"

"Don't be king." She tries to catch her breath, but all she feels is the hammer of her heart, the pain in her head, the aching knowledge that soon they might not be together anymore. She can't have that, can't have Jon gone from her side. Sansa needs him, like grass needs water, like the waves need the moon, like ships need wind, like anything that belongs together, she needs her other half. "Don't take that blasted throne."

"You've heard." He sighs and pushes back from the desk. Jon walks over to her, and rubs her shoulders with his warm hands. "Sansa, I can't  very well refuse my duty to the realm."

"But what about your duty to your family? To Winterfell?" She meets his gaze, icy blue to smooth grey, and recognizes the upset in them. "To me?"

She might have felt worse, for toying with his emotions like this. But she can't regret what she says, not if it means he will come back with her. The ruling council offered him the Dragon Queen's throne, because it is his by right. After Daenerys' death as she saved the world, Jon established the council with members of ruling families to fight back winter and rebuild Westeros. He is a good ruler, a good leader, and a wonderful man,  but Sansa aches for home as much as she aches for him. She will have both if she can.

"Sansa, you know this isn't what I want." Jon tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He cups her cheek, and Sansa throws herself against him. She buries her face against his chest, pulls him close against her body. Sansa holds on and refuses to let go. "Someone needs to sit the Iron Throne."

"Melt it down." She brashly suggests, fervor running in her veins. "Come back to Winterfell, let others deal with problems in the Stormlands and Dorne." 

His arms tense around her body. "That isn't quite a bad idea, you know."

Sansa steps back, plucks the rash idea from the back of her head, and dives over the cliffs in hopes that it may just work. "Southerners have never understood the North, for hundreds of years. Likewise, we've never truly understood them. There isn't a place any ruler could come from, to please the whole of Westeros. Who better to rule Dorne than a Dornishman? To rule the Vale than an Arryn, who have sat the weirwood throne for thousands of years?

"Tell them no, Jon. Tell them no and come home. With me. To Winterfell, to a future, and children with your hair and my eyes, that want to be brave and honorable and true." A tense silence follows her speech, all words between them said with just their eyes. Jon surprises her with his nod of agreement, but surprises her more when he pulls her in for a fast, hot kiss.

"I'll tell them. I'll come home." He was never one for power and politics, but Jon was one to do good. And the best good for the Seven Kingdoms was if they were seven once more. Jon can see it clear as she can, and the council complains little when they tell them his decision. Many of them have now become Kings with his refusal.

Her heart is full of joy as they depart, Ghost trailing behind. She does not have to fathom a world without Jon by her side, and Sansa is grateful for it. Their years will not be filled by politics and power games, struggles to have the upper hand, or doubts brought on by scheming courtiers. There will be unrest and trouble, as comes to any ruler, but they will always have the happiness of the Northern snow, the glass gardens, the hot springs of Winterfell to keep them warm. They will be together, they will happy, but most importantly they will be home. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out and fangirl about Jonsa and other ASOIAF/GOT goodness with me on [tumblr](http://jonsa-in-the-north.tumblr.com).


End file.
